Illegal timber and its global trade are now widely recognised as key threats to forest survival throughout the world. Not least among the players is the European Union (EU), which is now a major importer of such timber.
Based on trade data for six key timber-producing regions – the Amazon Basin, the Baltic States, the Congo Basin, east Africa, Indonesia and Russia – this report explores how the EU is driving the illegal timber trade worldwide, and assesses the potential to limit illegal logging
over the next 10 years.

Presenting a league table of the EU’s top importers of illegal timber and combining up-to-date information on both timber imports and EU policy, the report predicts that the main factor limiting illegal logging in the near future will be the exhaustion of forest resources. The implications are far-reaching: biodiversity, human health and national economies across the world will all be affected.
The report concludes with a series of recommendations, which address the need for the EU and its member states to take more proactive steps to halt the practice of illegal logging and the trade in illegal timber. It also highlights the urgent need for meaningful co-operation from other major importing countries, including China, Japan and the US.